Release of 09.12.2014
- Vip operator among the first operators in the region and in the Group to test VoLTE on top of a virtualized environment (NFV)
- NFV as game-changer in the Telco industry
- NFV-trials across the Group
Vip operator tests virtualized Voice over LTE
Today, Vip operator, the Macedonian subsidiary of Telekom Austria Group, announced that it is among the first Telecom operators in the region to have successfully tested a VoLTE call based on Network Function Virtualization (NFV). In today´s presentation Vip operator shows the VoLTE service with a virtualized TAS (Telephony Application Server) running on a virtualized IMS environment, both provided by Mavenir Systems, a leading provider of virtualized mobile Core Network equipment. Additionally Vip operator also shows virtualized Voice over Wireless LAN, also called VoWiFi, on the same virtualized environment
A steady increase in demand for mobile data makes the young LTE technology the most promising candidate for virtualization. Vip operator´s advanced LTE network has been capable of processing mobile data since middle of 2014. With the addition of Mavenir's solution for supporting VoLTE, it has been made VoLTE ready. This means that in the future, anyone equipped with VoLTE capable devices and the right tariff will be able to use Macedonia's top of the art LTE data network for voice communications as well. Macedonia was – due to its preparedness with deployment of the most recent technologies – the perfect base for this trial. The trial shows how customers will benefit from an innovative network infrastructure with services based on a virtualized and scalable technology. With VoLTE in place the customer will be able to continue viewing video stream, while a voice conversation can be held in parallel. Call set-up times will be reduced to less than 2 seconds.
Besides testing Voice over LTE, VIP operator is also showing Voice over Wireless LAN together with Mavenir Systems. Mavenir has been a leading company in this area and its virtualized equipment supports this functionality. "We are pleased that Mavenir's fully virtualized portfolio may be enabling Telekom Austria Group in the future to quickly and easily introduce new, emerging IP based services such as VoLTE", said Pardeep Kohli, President & CEO, Mavenir Systems Inc.
NFV as technology trend shaping the telecom landscape new
"For Telekom Austria Group NFV technology is a paradigmshift which will have a major impact on the telecommunication industry globally within the next few years. The traditional IT silo world will no longer exist and the Telecom landscape will be shaped differently. I am proud that the Group is among the first operators worldwide to set these trends", says Guenther Ottendorfer, CTO, Telekom Austria Group.
Telekom Austria Group considers NFV as a game-changer of the industry. Both Telco companies and customers will benefit from this new technology to a large extent: higher flexibilty and agility in supporting the customers, increased ability to cope with significant increases in data, enhanced customer utilization, higher quality of delivered services, less time-to-market and operational efforts, and finally innovation.
NFV across the Telekom Austria Group
With the showcase, Vip operator was able to successfully show how flexibility can be improved and how innovation and rapid release cycles for specific voice services can be deployed in various scenarios with the Telekom Austria Gorup.
"We are and will remain committed towards bringing new technologies to our customers, while constantly investing in improvements of our services and systems. I'm very pleased that we are among the first operators in the region successfully testing VoLTE. Thus we are contributing to the innovation path of Telekom Austria Group", stated Nikola Ljushev, CEO and CTO, Vip operator.
NFV is an important development for the entire telecommunications industry. It is therefore the Telekom Austria Group´s strategy to generate knowledge and experience early on and become a leader in this area. The Telekom Austria Group has already started a number of NFV trials across the Group with Vipnet in Croatia, Mobiltel in Bulgaria and Vip mobile in Serbia having already reported successful trials, while others are still ongoing or in the planning phase.
About VoLTE within the Telekom Austria Group
A short while ago also the transmission of voice via 4G/LTE has been made possible – this technology is called VoLTE (Voice over LTE). A1, the Austrian subsidiary of Telekom Austria Group, was the first telecom operator in Austria to start trials in the live network in spring in 2014. VoLTE voice transmission is being carried out via HD voice. This standard offers a significant improvement of the voice quality, also the set-up call time is much faster. VoLTE also supports not only a direct voice connection but also common features such as voicemail, SMS and emergency calls by automatically localizing the device where the call has started.
Please find further information on Vip operator under Macedonia.
Notes to the Editors
The interest in network virtualization has been growing steadily among the networking community in the last few years. NFV was born in 2012 when AT&T, BT, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom and many other Telcos introduced the "NFV Call to Action document". In order to increase velocity, a new committee was set up under the ETSI the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. This committee will work on creating the requirements and architecture blueprints as basis for implementation and resulting in standards of IETF.
About Mavenir
Mavenir Systems (NYSE: MVNR) provides software-based networking solutions that enable mobile service providers to deliver next generation services over 4G LTE networks. Mavenir™ has a fully virtualized end to end portfolio of Voice/Video, Messaging and Mobile Core products that include IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and Session Border Controller (SBC). Mavenir's solutions, based on the award-winning mOne® software platform, leverage NFV and SDN technologies for deployments on cloud-based infrastructure.
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